Crain staying positive despite up-and-down rehab process

Astros reliever Jesse Crain threw a bullpen Saturday morning with what he estimated to be 60 to 70 percent effort, a sign that Crain is continuing on the right path.

The problem with recovering from his type of offseason shoulder surgery — on the right biceps tendon — is that the path is unpredictable and winding, if not at times demoralizing. A case of bursitis in Crain’s right shoulder in April halted Crain from throwing off a mound.

“It went good, good as I can expect right now,” Crain said after tossing Saturday. “I was able to get through it, didn’t have any setbacks. … It was a positive, a step forward.”

He has to go off feel going forward.

“If there was an exact answer to what was going on then we probably would have an exact plan, but we don’t really have an exact plan,” Crain said. “I don’t know if it’s just something different, I don’t know if what I’m going through (originated in) coming back from this, it’s hard to say.”

The biceps tendon connects to the labrum. During Crain’s offseason surgery, the tendon was cut and connected to bone so it doesn’t connect to the labrum anymore.

“It’s not like Tommy John where everybody’s had this surgery before, and (shoulders are) difficult in general,” Crain said. “There’s not really an exact way to kind of plan something out, but really, it just goes on how you feel.”

Crain’s hope is to be able to return sometime in June. With the Astros heading out of town for a three-city road trip starting Monday, he’s set to return to Florida and continue his rehab at the team’s complex. He might return to Houston for the next home stand.

There was symbolism Saturday: on the day Crain was back on the mound, veteran reliever Kyle Farnsworth was signed to bolster the bullpen. The Astros have signed two relievers this month, and Farnsworth was a roommate of Bo Porter’s in the minor leagues.

The need to look outside the organization for help at least somewhat speaks to the uncertainty of Crain’s rehab. Signed to a $3.25 million, one-year deal this offseason, Crain at best now will have about half a season with the ‘Stros. When he was signed, the team expected he wouldn’t be ready for opening day, but April was a goal.

They’re missing a reliever who, based on track record, could be their best. Crain had a 1.70 ERA from 2012-13, with 106 strikeouts and 34 walks in 84 2/3 innings.

“When he’s healthy, he’s a warrior,” said Don Cooper, Crain’s pitching coach from 2011-13 with the White Sox, the Astros’ weekend opponent. “He’s kind of what I call a ‘lunch-pal guy.’ He just comes every day, low maintenance and goes out there and gets the job done and he pitched tremendously for us.”

Peter Moylan, the pitcher the Astros invited to big league camp this spring but who’s no longer with the organization, is successfully rehabbing the second Tommy John surgery of his career in Atlanta. He’s working out with another pitcher who needed Tommy John this spring, Kris Medlen of the Braves.

Moylan has been through the injury ringer. He had biceps tendon surgery after the 2011 season, and knows firsthand the frustrating difference in recoveries between elbow and shoulder surgeries.

“It’s not like it’s just a little snip, and you should be ready to go,” Moylan said. “It was completely unpredictable, it was up and down. I’d feel good one week, I’d feel like crap the next week. It wasn’t really until there was a point around May where I felt everything click, and I felt like I was able to throw at full strength, and then it was just a matter of trying to get my arm strength back.”

Moylan returned to the majors in September 2012, although he felt he could have been back sooner. No matter what his experience was though, everybody is different.

“Until about April (2012), I honestly thought that I wasn’t going to come back,” Moylan said. “It was terrible. To see what (Crain) was doing in spring training and the way he was playing catch — I played catch with him one day and the ball was coming out great — he’s not far away I’m sure.”

Moylan and Crain have communicated as Crain goes through his rehab.

Crain’s last 10 1/2 months would be tough for anyone. The last time he pitched in a game was June 29 — for the White Sox, who finish a three-game series with the Astros on Sunday. The White Sox traded him to the Tampa Bay Rays in late July of last year, but Crain’s health kept him from pitching for the Rays, who went to the playoffs.

His determination to pitch and help the Rays might have cost him in the long run.

“If I took out that three months I tried to come back last year I mean, maybe I wouldn’t be quite as frustrated as I where I am right now,” Crain said. “But trying to go through it and then having surgery and now trying to get better now just adds on to it.”

Crain saw some former White Sox teammates at Gordon Beckham’s wedding this offseason, but this series at Minute Maid was the first chance to really catch up. They were comforting to see.

“Real good to see them,” Crain said Saturday. “When I got traded last year when I was with the Rays, I didn’t see (the White Sox) again, so it’s been awhile since I saw some of them.”

In other injury news, righthander Matt Albers, who is on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder tendinitis, will not be joining Crain in Kissimmee, Fla., and instead will remain in Houston and continue his rehab at Minute Maid Park.